Zoom 504 Acoustic

If you're familiar with the 500 series Zoom pedals, this one is as easy to program as the others. Takes some getting used to, of course. The owner's manual, a big yellow sheet of paper, is adequate. To my knowledge, no firmware upgrades have ever been offered.

Sound quality?: Other reviewers have complained, but I approve. One complaint was that it "colors the tone of the guitar". Of course it does, dummy! That's what it's designed to do! This was not intended to be a "transparent" studio unit for use with a solid body stage rig. We need to remember what these sold for originally. Does it make my LP Deluxe sound exactly like an acoustic? No, but close enough for stage work.
There is one patch that just sucks like a black hole, and that is the 12-string simulation. Avoid it. Other series 500 pedals offer it as well, and they are all exactly as bad as this one. Get a Variax....it'll flat do the 12 string sim' baby!

Noisy?: I'm getting distortion when strumming hard on my LP Deluxe through the clean channel of my Mesa, but I suspect this is a matter of pilot error, not the pedal. Still working on that. "De-amp" may be the solution.

Effects weak?: Some are subtle, some have more effect. Depends on need and settings. Choruses and reverbs are very nice.

My amp?: Two; a Mesa Nomad and a 1978 Randall orange face RG 60.

Can I get the sound...?: Sure. Close enough for stage work. Favorite artist? Too many to list.

Are certain effects very good or bad?: They all seem to do their intended jobs just fine. Again, remember price.

Reliability: This is my soapbox issue. If you stomp on a Zoom 500 series pedal hard enough to break it, you need meds. Grow up. You are not Pete Townsend. What is this fixation with plastic pedals being fragile? I don't get it. In 44 years of pretty much constant stage performing and (honestly) dozens of different pedals over the years I have NEVER stepped on a pedal hard enough to break it, other than the switches crapping out on several Digitech RP series units, and their chassis are made of metal. This is my fourth old 500 series pedal and they all worked flawlessly.

No idea.

What do we play?: Nostalgia rock. Every now and then I need and acoustic sim'.
How long playing?: 44 years this year.
If it were stolen..?: Sure, I'd look for another one, UNLESS someone gives me a Variax.
What do I love/hate?: Read above for love. What I hate is the fact that I can't read the LED's in sunlight. That can be, and has been a problem.
Did I compare it to other products?: No. Nothing to compare it to. I chose it because I am comfy operating Zoom 500 boxes and the price was right.
Anything I wish it had?: Yes. LCD Display.
Does it help make music?: Yes. That was the point of getting it.
Anything I'd like to share: Yes, unrelated to this review. For all you born again Christian product reviews that use Harmony Central as your pulpit, I have a question. If you're so proud of you witness to Christ, why to sign your review "anonymous", just like the reviewers that are so profane?

I own a few other ZOOM pedals from this series, including the Amp Simulator (much cheaper than the POD), 506 bass pedal, the great Delay pedal and used a 504 on our worship leader's guitar...an Alvarez with a Fishman Natural pickup/preamp. Also I added piezo saddles to his Gibson 335 and this pedal helped get a better acoustic tone.

I'm used to editing these pedals, but a good read of the manual is a good idea. Manuals can be downloaded from ZOOM's site.

Set up properly it isn't noisy at all. I have piezo pickups on all my guitars, including a Les Paul, Telecaster, Westone (with Fishman/Wilkinson piezo tremelo bridge, and some acoustics. This pedal allows me to preset patches for each guitar. For acoustic amps, I mod small Peavey bass amps adding tweeters and mid slope controls to make them more "acoustic friendly." Who cares if it sounds like anyone else. I know what a good acoustic tone is, and this pedal is helpful in getting there.

I've had no problems with any of the Zoom pedals. I bought this thing off e-bay and have the ART Personal Acoustic processor coming. One will end up used with my guitars and one with my fretless bass...anywho, I'll have a backup.

I tried to get a schematic for the delay pedal, long discontinued. I need to perform a mod on it that I need the schematic for. Zoom kept giving me the runaround so after two months of trying, I gave up. As far as repair, I'm a repair tech and do my own repairs.

I like to run an electric rig and an acoustic rig simultaneously, so I've put piezo pickups in all my electric guitars. The sound of chiming acoustic tone coming out one amp and heavy distortion coming out of another amp at the same time is awesome. I'm hooked on that combination of tones. I'd probably buy the newer model or try maybe the Alesis if I lost this one.

I have a strict policy dealing with scumbags that steal my equipment. I've been an electronics tech for 30+ years and worked with RF identification in my job of 26 years in manufacturing. All my equipment is easily located with GPS equipment I own. I am into target shooting, both home protection/concealed carry type guns, and cowboy action shooting pistols and rifles. Should anything I own be stolen (which has happened in the past, especially at church) I'll hunt the slug down in short order and give him/her the choice of which palm they want a round through. They can choose either hand and can choose a 9mm hollowpoint or a .45 cowboy round. Trust me, lessons learned through gun "accidents" are horrifying and stick with the thief for the rest of their lives. (I know how to do this and NOT get into legal trouble.)

Musical instruments become very personal and when they are stolen it feels like a great violation...almost like a sexual asault. I've yet to have to go to these extremes, but let me tell you...a few run-ins with our neighborhood teenage mouthbreathers over their harrassment of my girlfriend and me and vandalism of our home for no reason other than they thought it was fun to hassle my mentally ill, disabled, bedridden girlfriend. Once they came face to face with a 9mm (actually, it was the little perp's drunk father) they leave us alone.

I won't put up with having equipment I worked hard to buy getting stolen. Also, Wisconsin has great restitution laws. If you get caught, you will pay back straight new retail price to the person you stole from. Nice wake up call.

I chose this pedal because I had experience with it, and own some other pedals in this line and love them.

very, very easy. loo at other reviews please.

here is the big thing: this little jewel actually helped me create a decent resonator sound with my f 60 dobro for the very first time. the dobro has an old piezo installed in the bridge. nobody does it like tis anymore. but even with this suboptimal piezo the 504 makes a good sound through my marshall asr 50 acoustic-amp.

looks sturdy to me.... would gi no question

no idea

very very good little thing and cheap! if you play acoustic, just make up two or three patches. one for regular guitar, something else more special, like dobro or mandolin or a more spacy sound and there you go. the preset-equing is good enough for me, plus yoiu can do someting with the amps eq as well. the "electric into acoustic guitar" mode is crappy....
overall very very good and it can save you hundreds of dollars, because it makes old piezos sound good. i can tell because my dobro sounded really awful.
now all is good, cheap zoom and cheap marshall: rich sound!

If you own any of the older ZOOM 50* series pedals, then this unit is just as easy to program. The instruction manual is a big help until you get used to it. I only give it a 9 because I do like the knob on the 504II.

I use this with a Fender DG-10CE and if you own one, you know that the pickup it comes with sounds like creamed crap. This pedal makes it sound great. This version of this pedal is still floating around on Ebay, so I'm writing this review to let people know that for less than the newer 504II and much less than the LR Baggs or Fishman preamps, they can beef up their acoustic sound for somewhere in the $30 range. I actually had a 504II but my other pedals were the older 503, 505 and 506 so I had to get rid of the 504II and get a 504 so they all matched. That's my weird problem, not yours, but the 504 is an awesome pedal for the price. If you see one on Ebay, bid on it. But don't pay more than $50 for it or you might as well just get the 504II.

Very dependable and I would use it without a backup. If you're playing acoustic guitar, you're probably not jumping around. And if you are, what kind of acoustic music are you playing anyway?

Don't know, never used it. If it broke, I'd just hunt down another one.

Don't buy the 504II just because it's new. The older series of these pedals take a little getting used to in the programming department, but once you get the hang of it, it's well worth it. If you're reading this because you saw one on Ebay and can't decide if you should bid on it, I'm telling you BID ON IT. You'll save money and your acoustic and your audience will thank you.

This is my second Zoom multi-effect unit. Several years ago, I owned the bass version, 506. Both units have left a favorable impression. As with the 506, I've found enough usable patches in the factory presets to have little need for programming. I am actually using the 504 (Acoustic) as an effect processor for my acoustic bass, electric bass, and vocals in my small PA rig. The unit works surprising well in all three applications (I'm especially pleased as this was not necessarily designed for the bass or PA!). Editing is pretty darned simple, and the manual is easily downloadable if it doesn't come with the unit (as was the case for my used 504 and 506).

I purchased this pedal to be an all-around effects unit (PA vocals, guitar and bass) as I have downsized from a home studio and full PA rig to compact bass and PA rigs only. The PA rig is a homemade combo roughly equivalent to the Rogue Roller Combo PA or a keyboard combo amp (using a small, 200w amp, 15" speaker and a small Behringer mixer). My bass rig consists of a Rogue acoustic and a Rogue electic bass (both 5-strings) and an Ampeg BA-112. After reading other reviews here on HC, I thought I'd give this one a try in that capacity. As most of the presets focus mainly on reverb, chorus and delay, the 504 was almost perfect for vocals. I very quickly found two patches-- one with heavier delay and reverb for vocals, and one with lighter reverb and delay for announcing. I was able to find several good patches for my electric and acoustic basses as well. The factory patches run the gambut from deep heavy bass tones (good for dub and reggae) to super-bright (not much use for bass or PA) with various effects levels. The delays, choruses and reverbs are all good quality for the price of the unit. Some patches gave the electric and acoustic basses an "active" sound (better EQing). I was VERY impressed with the improvement of the Rogue electric bass tones when using the 504 as a pre-amp. A couple of the patches even gave my lowly Rogue a great P-Bass sound! Other patches utilized effects mixes that really brought out the musical quality and depth of the basses' upper registers (similar to the effects Metallica uses during many of their intros- think airy and classical/goth, like the guitar intro to "Nothing Else Matters" or Randy Rhodes' intro to "Diary of a Madman"). As with my Zoom 506, the 504 is pretty noisy. Luckily the white noise is fairly consistent throughtout the presets. As I recall, the noise fluctuated greatly with the 506, so this is a definite improvement.

Although I've only had this one a short time, the overall quality appears to be the same as my old 506. That unit took plenty of abuse without any issues. I purchased this one used, and it functions beautifully.

I've never dealt with the folks at Zoom. However, I've always been able to find info and downloadable manuals at will.

At $30 used this multi-effects pedal was a steal!! No question that I'd purchase a 504 to replace this one if lost, broken or stolen. Yeah, the Zoom's are noisy and eat batteries like there's no tomorrow, but dollar for dollar, I like them as well as the low-end Korg and Digitec multis (although you have to hand it to Digitec for the enormous number of presets and programmable patches that they allow). I just can't speak highly enough of a budget multi-effect unit that can handle vocals and a huge variety of instruments as well as this one does!!

No midi brainiacs here. Tweak it until you get a good sound. What could be easier?

For the money you can't beat it with a stick all day long. I play my Takamine 2000LTD- to Zoom 504 - to my fender Acoustasonic amp for a crisper sound and for a pretty good 12-string effect. Also can tweak a pretty good classical guitar sound. I recommend it for acoustics more so than electrics. Zoom says it's for both, but unless you have a Fishman pickup on your electric, you're NOT going to get a good acoustic sound from an electric guitar.

Had mine for over 6 years now and hasn't failed me yet. Sure it's cheap plastic, but, hey, I paid a low price for this cheap plastic.

No problems to report

For the price, it can't be beat. As I mentioned, I wouldn't suggest it for making an electric sound like an acoustic. The only way to do that is with a good acoustic pick-up, and even then, it's still not the same. This pedal helps accentaute the sound of your guitar and give you a few perks such as differnt reverbs and delays. I'd replace mine with another one if it went missing.

Extremely easy to use!

I play a $1500.00 Tacoma handmade w/flamed maple back & sides, all solid wood. I have a M3 pickup system with two mics and a transducer mounted inside the guitar. This is run into a Trace Elliot acoustic amplifier. This setup is totally top shelf. I originally bought the Zoom 504 to just fool around with, as it is not in the same league as my other equipment. I was totally surprised that when tweaked properly, it actually makes my Tacoma sound better than direct to amp. I was amazed! This is a great unit, quiet, and fantastic-sounding, who would have guessed??!!

Take care of it, and it will never die.

No need.

This unit was the surprise of the year, it is an incredible-sounding unit for the $$$.

I bought mine second hand, so I don't know the default settings. I have used a 505/508/507 before, so editing was easy. I gave this to a student of mine who is totally unfamiliair with effects units, and he edited some nice sounds, while not knowing what he was doing (no manual - just pushing buttons until it was OK).

I play a Stick; and though I use a lot of equipment (some are very "high-brow") this cheapo unit delivers me with some sounds TC Electronic could be proud of (but if I had to make a choice, TC delivers a lot more). Little noise. Some things are fairly useless - there's a sort of pitch-shifting in this box which makes your instrument sound horrible, but perhaps someone likes it....

My other Zooms are very reliable. I mostly use them for "guerilla-gigs" at which activities can get very wild, but they never give up. I must add that a friend of mine (125 kilos!) simply crushed a Zoom when changing programs with his left foot.
I should add: I have bought a second one, just because you never know.....

Have been in contact about other Zoom stuff, very nice replies, very good advice.

I am a Stick player, so there are 2 signals coming out of my instrument that I have to deal with. The 504 has 2 "IN's", and the output can be used for headphones. The follow up (504II) has only one input, so it's of no use to me. This is the perfect practice amp for Stick players (if you do not need distortion).
I use this as a practice amp on holidays, a great unit for small gigs and a little "special device"in my recording set-up for those moments when something has to sound "acoustic" - and it does all these jobs in a great way.

I liked the sound it gave right out of the box. I did find that the volume varies from patch to patch, but that can be fixed easily. Editing patches is not too hard after reading the manual. I think a book would have been nicer than the single page layout used. I really like that you change patches with the pedals. Especially nice is the option to hold the patch you're on while you get set to go to a new one.

I am using the 504 between my Dean Exotica and the PA system at our church. (I got this to use until I get an acoustic amp.) I haven't found it to be noisy, but I do wish the volume would be constant. The main reason I like this box is that it gave me a warm sound that I couldn't get plugged into an old electric guitar amp. Overall, the sound is very solid. I really like the A1 and especially the C4 settings.

Even though the case is plastic, I think the box is very robust. I wouldn't jump around near this thing, but I feel very confident using it in our church setting. I don't think I'd want a backup. This is a battery monster, however, so get an AC adapter.

N/A

I play Christian (DC Talk, Jars of Clay, various worship), blues (Eric Clapton, BB King, etc.), Country, and rock. I bought an acoustic/electric to have a good acoustic sound with the ability to amplify it. This box allows me to enhance that sound when amplifying it.

I've been playing for a year and own this box along with my Dean Exotica. I plan on buying an acoustic amp soon, and look forward to hearing this through a dedicated amp.

If this was stolen or lost I'd either get another, or get the new model (504 II). I really love the variety of options that I can now get out of my guitar. I think the onboard tuner is a good idea, but I still use my Korg tuner. I think it does a better job. My favorite feature is the C4 "resonator" setting. That sound effect catches attention, and really stands out.

I compared this to several other pedals (boss, others) but this one was such a good deal that I couldn't pass it up. I only wish that you could control the volume externally. If anyone has used the external foot control for this, please let me know how you did it, or with what equipment.

I enjoy using this pedal tremendously. I know it gives my sound more clarity, warmth, and variety than I got directly plugged into an electric guitar amp. This box allows me to get my guitar to sound like I want it to, which lets me concentrate on making music. In the church setting, this is of the utmost importance, as my music is meant to be an offering to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. I enjoy playing with friends for fun, but playing worship to our heavenly Father refreshes my soul like nothing else. This pedal helps me to do that.

For what I paid for this pedal, I could ask nothing more of it.

IT is pretty simple to use right out of the box, if you don't want to edit patches. If you do edit patches, keep the owners manual close by, and keep a lot of notes.

I originally bought this for live gigs with my Ovation Elite to reduce the resonant feedback, it didn't work! I tried using this in a studio set-up, and got a lot of "white noise" when the levels were turned up. There is a definate digital quality to the sound. All said and done, it can be tweeked for live applications where there is other noises competing with it, but not in a studio set-up.

Works like a horse, never had any trouble with it.

N/A

I bought it fot the feedback reducer, and it doesn't work very good. It only eliminates 1 band of feedback. I play an Ovation Elite, and a Yamaha APX 9-12 12 string, and I get multiple bands of resonant feedback from my guitars during live applications. If you are looking for a feedback eliminator, get a newer Sabine, they work excellent.